Alien: Isolation - DLC explores events before the game

In space, no-one can hear you... download several pieces of moderately priced content. Please forgive us for making the worst possible Alien tag-line pun imaginable (the writer responsible has been forcibly ejected into space). What we're trying to say, is that Sega has confirmed its plans for Alien: Isolation DLC, and its unusually well structured.

There are five pieces due over the next six months, and you'll be able to play the lot by March 2015. Apparently, they'll introduce new modes, maps, and challenges to the Survivor Mode. Nabbing a season pass (for an as-yet-undisclosed price) will grant you access to all five slices of DLC, and will save you about 25% off the price of buying them individually. That's Sega's hard-sell anyway. We'd probably recommend waiting to see how good each piece is, before committing to it. Speaking of which, click through for details on the first content pack: Corporate Lockdown.

Warning: Mild spoilers ahead!

From October 28, you'll be able to add three new maps to Survivor mode, explaining some of the events on Sevastopol Station in the days before the arrival of Amanda Ripley and her team. It also offers a new game mode, Gauntlet, which features an online leaderboard for players who can complete the three new challenge maps, back to back.

So what are these pre-Isolation events? You'll get to play for the first time as a new character, Ransome, who is Seegson's head of operations and mentioned in the terminal messages in the main game. He's been abandoned by his bosses and--knowing that the Torrens is on its way--decides to escape by hitching a ride on board, taking decoded Nostromo data with him. But first he's got to get there...

The three new challenge maps are called Severance, Scorched Earth and Loose Ends, and each has its own online leaderboard, which will track your completion time and your score from completing side-quests and hidden bonus objectives. A more game-ified version of Alien Isolation's survival action, certainly. But your opportunity to show off your skills.

As if Alien: Isolation wasn't long enough, right? There are five pieces of DLC planned, in addition to the meaty 20 hour game that comes in the box. Are you planning to invest in a season pass? Or do you just buy bit-by-bit? Whatever your preference, you filthy beast, leave your comments below.

While you're here, don't forget to check out our Alien: Isolation Review. And if you want to dig deeper into the game, take a look at our editorial on How Alien: Isolation Changes The Rules For Licensed Games.